Why the Bulls shouldn't have lost to the Heat

Photo Courtesy of the NBA

The Chicago Bulls struggled offensively in a 101-91 loss to the Miami Heat last night.

The Bulls could have and should have won the game, since they entered the fourth quarter only down by two. But Goran Dragic's scoring frenzy prohibited the Bulls from getting their first win after the All-Star break. This was the Bulls' fourth loss in their last five games.

Dragic went for 20 points in the fourth and shot 60% from the field for the night.

But the game was close as both teams headed into the locker room with a 42-42 halftime score. Then Dragic went off, sinking the Bulls behind in double-digits.

The Heat have been performing really well since Jimmy Butler made his return in late January. They are the league's top defensive team and they showed that last night, forcing the Bulls to turn the ball over six times within the first six minutes of the game.

The Bulls were sloppy offensively. They missed too many easy layups. The passes weren't as sharp as they could've been inside. Even simple two-point shot attempts were concerning.

They had an advantage since the Heat were without Bam Adebayo (knee), yet they still struggled and gave the Heat their fourth straight win in Chicago.

Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 30 points while Lauri Markkanen added 20 points of his own in his second game back.

The Bulls should have won this by taming Dragic in the fourth, but instead they continued with their usual ways by not being able to finish in the fourth quarter. They should have won because they were successful in certain aspects like shooting nearly 40% from beyond the arc.

They also improved their performance in the paint compared to their previous blowout loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. They did a better job securing the lane by preventing Miami from getting offensive rebounds, since the Bulls held them to just one.

Bulls coach Billy Donovan on his team's performance:

"We didn't finish at all. I thought we got the ball there and we made some good passes. We just didn't finish well. We had some good looks from 3 we didn't make. But it was a choppy game because of them changing defenses, switching and also playing quite a bit of zone."

The schedule continues to be tough, but hopefully the Bulls are taking this one off day to reevaluate what needs to be done to try and get a win over the Toronto Raptors at home on Sunday.